


Blandish Her

by xuhei



Series: Triads AU [4]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: F/M, Mafia AU, Rejection, Smut, butt hurt jongin strikes again!, enemies to lovers kinda, idk - Freeform, its cute tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 18:19:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11423508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xuhei/pseuds/xuhei
Summary: “Maybe I’m not. Maybe every time I’m with you my heart beats really quickly and I can’t help but smile. Maybe when you leave me I’m back to the same old Kai who doesn’t know how to commit. Maybe I don’t know what love is, but you’re most definitely the person that’s come closest to being someone I love.”





	Blandish Her

**Author's Note:**

> so there is loads i could have added but nah. ive been trying to finish this for three days but i keep getting stuck so hopefully you like it! i’ll only say this once but if you would like a part two pls tell me what you want to happen in it. i don’t plan for the second part

_Blandish her_  was his saying. Manipulation was something that Kim Jongin had mastered. He may be only twenty three, he may have a lot left to learn from the people he kept around him, but he knew his way around people. That was his topic, his centre point for discussion whenever someone would ask for his talents.

 _I’m just a people person_. That he was – he would be able to sweet talk his way into owning the entire world if he was given the chance, all because of his precise manipulation of people, and more importantly, of  _words_.

A girl would leave his room thinking Kai was being genuine when he told her  _I’ll call you tomorrow my love_ , and a man would leave his office thinking Kai was being genuine when he told him  _I’ll make sure that you get the best from our deal_. He’d never call her, he’d never give him the best from the deal; Kim ‘Kai’ Jongin was just as selfish as he played himself out to  _not_  be.

Charities sang his praises, companies would have their buildings decorated head to toe if he was to arrive and presidents would fall to their feet to worship him. Which was worse, he wasn’t sure, but what Kim Jongin did know what that it did not bother him. He’d enjoy his blasphemy for the time being.

The only ones that it did bother were the people who were  _technically_ the rank beneath him, and they were one more blood stained shirt away from showing them why they were really important to the Kim Brother’s.

“I hate him,” Jongdae states. He picks up his coffee, takes a gulp of it, then places it back down on the table with a huff. “We have to  _find_ ,  _kidnap_ and somehow  _not_ beat the shit out of Oh Sehun because Kai thinks it’s necessary? Nah. Fuck that. I’m going back to Daejeon.”

Minseok is the one who grabs Jongdae by the wrist to stop him walking away from the table, but deep down he’s just as annoyed. The two boys have nothing to say to Jongin’s words except  _no_. “Just hold on. We might be able to sort something out.”

You, on the other hand, sit there completely lost in what’s actually happening. You know who Oh Sehun is, you know who Kai is, but you can’t express your own views on the issue because you’re just someone working for the Kim Brothers, as close to Jongdae and Minseok as you actually were.

Contrary to all the people around you, you’d never met Kim Jongin. You’d seen Kim Junmyeon on multiple occasions but you’d never said hello to him, you’d just been left to observe from a distance as the well-known business man made more acquaintances that he’d just use in the future.

At least he actually showed up. Even the party Jongdae threw after successfully taking the twenty million won from someone, Junmyeon was there with his five body guards who would only let Jongdae and Minseok speak to him. They had attempted to usher you to Junmyeon but his guards were having none of it and the most you got was a half assed wave.

He was cute, you could get that much out of it. Lest you say the same about Kim Jongin though. He was practically invisible.  

“What are we going to do?” Jongdae asks. He looks to you straight away, humming to himself as though he had an idea that he was  _sure_ you were going to exact. Silence was what you were keeping yourself to so you can avoid saying anything that will coincide with whatever plan he has.

“We just go along with it,” Minseok says. He pats Jongdae’s shoulder and offers him a smile. “Sehun won’t be hard to deal with. You just have to find him, and that won’t be too hard. He’ll be somewhere with lots of other people around. It won’t be hard to slip something in his drink and tie him up in a basement.”

You nod along with his words, very much agreeing with what Minseok has to say. He’s the smart one and Jongdae is the one who carries out the work because of that goddamn OCD Minseok has. “I too think it will be easy to catch him.”

“That’s because you think it’s as easy as sucking his dick and keeping him in a room for a while until Kai is happy with what we’ve done.”

“It is that easy!” you protest, hand banging the table and slightly making Minseok jump at the noise. “Listen to me. Sehun is smart, but he lacks what I would like to call  _control_. If you offer to suck him off he’ll follow. Trust me.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes. “You can do that then, like fuck am I touching any one of those Unnamed and their dicks.”

“Wait, I have an idea.”

You and Jongdae both look to Minseok immediately. This whole time you had been worried about Jongdae coming up with some stupid ass plan to get Sehun under their spell but you could definitely see by the way that Minseok smirked to himself that  _he_ was the one with this stupid plan.

His giggle confirmed it too. Good thing Jongdae was there to scowl it away and return things to being super depressing. “If it is anything to do with knocking him out in any way, forget it, Kai said no already.”

“What if he doesn’t know?” Minseok says. He shakes his coffee cup to check it’s empty and then carries on talking. “Here’s what I think. We use (y/n) to our advantage and do whatever we like to Sehun to get him back here without Kai knowing?”

“And how does (y/n) come into this?”

Minseok smirks; he knows exactly what he’s doing with you and he’s already thought through this all  _knowing_ Jongdae would say yes and give you no choice in the matter. “I think she’s Jongin’s type, don’t you?”

❤❤❤❤

Your hands are shaking ever so slightly as you make an attempt to pull open the door of the building that you  _knew_  Jongin was residing in. Jongdae and Minseok had confirmed it, they’d been here this morning and made sure that Jongin would be waiting there when you wanted to see him.

Did you want to be a part of this? Nope. Not at all. If you really had a choice in the matter you’d have run from the hills but unfortunately you knew Minseok and Jongdae too well and it was the same with them. If you did make a run for it they’d be right behind you, ready to fight back against you.

 What they could actually persecute you for, you didn’t know. Maybe if you ran away they’d assume you were going for good (and not just because you didn’t want to have to face Kai up close) and then they’d have to kill you because you knew every one of their victims. Like, for example, the person who stood right at the bottom of this plan called Oh Sehun.

So you were here now, wearing jeans that were more shaping than you were used to and the top revealed more than you usually wanted to, but it was all in the name of distracting Jongin for long enough that Minseok and Jongdae could get away with whatever plan they had decided on without having to conform with Jongin’s standards.

“Excuse me,” you call quietly over the desk. The lady who’s wearing a tight fitted shirt that you can totally see her bra through ignores you for a moment, but seeing as you’re not leaving any time soon she has to look up at you and give you the most fake smile you might have ever seen. “I’m looking to speak with Kai.”

You can see the scowl on her face before she even shows it. Not many people came in here expecting a face-to-face meeting with Kim Kai himself whenever they wanted, but you’d been told the tricks of dealing with his office staff by Jongdae already. “It’s by appointment only.”

“It’s about Chen,” you answer her, ignoring her statement.

Her face almost contorts, and though you’re unaware whether it’s due to the fact she’s slept with Jongdae in the past and is getting the ugly flashbacks (this was very likely) or down to the fact whenever someone was here about one of the Kim Brothers it was always very important. She doesn’t answer you and instead picks up her own phone, pressing the button which you were sure dialled straight through to Kai’s office.

Though you give her some privacy whilst talking with Kai, you notice how she never says anything. At first you’re slightly suspicious that she’s just called up security to escort you out, but upon assessing the security men who weren’t moving whatsoever you realise that isn’t the case. Maybe Kai didn’t like to be spoken to.

 “Someone will be down soon to take you up to his office,” she lets you know very promptly. Her fake smile has returned and you notice straight away that she’s not wearing a name badge of any sort, so you make a mental note of the features of her face that would give her away in case anything happened.

After being friends with two Kim Brothers for so long it was only expected that you’d pick up some of their habits and begin to assess everything around you no matter where you were.

You thank her nonetheless with a slight bow of your head and take a step back to let the other people waiting for their glorious meetings with Kai’s employees confirm that they were actually here. They could deal with the fake receptionist that gave out her fake smiles and make completely silent phone calls. You had to now deal with a thumping heart that was in no way prepared to see Jongin – this wasn’t going to work and of that you were starting to be sure.

There’s no chance to contemplate running  _again_  because a man is standing in front of you dressed in one of those fancy suits that Jongdae hated so much, ushering you towards the elevator and standing in front of the buttons in the elevator to make sure you couldn’t see which floor they were taking you up to. Whatever they did here, the security was way too tight for you to enjoy it.

He leaves you by the door to another room which is completely blacked out, but judging by the number of cameras pointing directly at the door itself, this was  _the_ door. The one that sheltered Kim Kai from the world and made sure that he wasn’t exposed for everything he did. You weren’t even sure if the general public knew that he was tied in with Sehun and Jongin at all.

Due to the lack of instruction on what to do, you debate whether or not knocking on the door is a good idea. You didn’t want a negative start with Kai but you also weren’t sure if he had any idea you  _were_ actually out here – you could just be being impatient though.  _Fuck it._ You decide that you will knock on the door, but before your fist even touches the wood it’s taken away from you and you’re left staring straight at the face you’d imagined looked nowhere near as perfect up close.

But you were wrong. So wrong.

“Hi,” you mumble, noticing that Kai isn’t going to say anything. He’s staring just as intently at you, analysing your face like you’d done with every other photo you’ve done with him. “I’m here to speak to you about Chen.”

Kai doesn’t answer. His lips are slightly pouted and he only tugs on the sleeves of his turtle neck jumper as he thinks through what to say with you. “Come in and take a seat.”

You follow his command and step into his ‘office’ – quotations for the fact that it was far from an office you expected and instead has a black leather couch in the corner and bunches of roses all over the desks. Whilst he’s walking past you to get back to his chair, you take the time to appreciate his dark brown hair that suits perfectly with his tanned skin and those lips which are a strange pink colour but look absolute beautiful.

Kim Jongin looks even better up front than in pictures. He was the embodiment of perfection.

“So what would you like to tell me about  _Chen_?” Kai asks, sitting down at his chair and pulling himself forward so the tips of his fingers are just resting on the edge of the bed.

“I,  _uh_ …” you knew what you wanted to say but looking Kai in the eyes made it far more difficult of a task than you originally planned for it to be. He was staring and it was making your heart beat even faster from nervousness. “I saw him with one of the Fourth Triad. I thought that you should know.”

Jongdae had told you it would be enough to spark Jongin’s interest but judging by his frown this was _not_  true. You’d been the first to criticise Jongdae for suggesting that Jongin would believe he’s scamming the Kim Brothers for the men from China but Minseok had also agreed that it would work like a charm. Blandish him, they said, it’s the only way to make him fall for you.

“And what is your relationship with Chen?” Kai asks. He has a cocky smile on his lips that only grows when you stutter a few speech disfluencies. He knows you can’t give a straight answer so he continues himself, “did you have a one night stand with him and assume that using me against him would suffice for him breaking your heart because he just used you? Do you know who I am?”

It’s your turn to frown now, a scoff leaving your lips when you fully comprehend his words and what their meaning is. Kai even does that once over glance to check out your body and it angers you from the onset. Perfection, for Kim Jongin, is only to his physical level.

“Do you know who I am?” you return simply. Jongin gives you a blank stare as he leans back in his chair and assesses your face again, but you don’t let it get to you this time. When you’re pissed, even the Kai CharmsTM would not work. Had he copy righted that yet? He should have because it would be very useful against some people.

Kai shakes his head upon noticing your complete silence. “You gave no name to my receptionist, so no. I don’t know who you are.”

“Then don’t make assumptions about me,” you tell him, “I came here to tell you that I had seen your very loyal ally  _Chen_  with Zhang Yixing of the Fourth Triad. They were dealing. I can give you a time and a place and CCTV footage to confirm that Chen was inside the location at the times I’m giving you. I work there, I noticed them and now I’m telling you.”

“And what would you like in return for this information?” Kai asks.

You refrain from scoffing like you planned on doing beforehand. “I don’t know, maybe a thank you – or is that too much to ask? I mean, you have people following your men about and yet it’s  _me_ telling you that some of your men aren’t as loyal as you think.”

Silencing Kai must be an achievement of some sorts. He’s never met you before yet you’re speaking with him like you’re freaking Kim Junmyeon and you’re mad at him. The latter, albeit correct, doesn’t usually give people a chance to be just as sarcastic to Kai as he is to other people, and when he hums and turns his head to the side you realise that this might just be your last day breathing. He’d put Chen and Xiumin on your trail.

“I appreciate your information but I think that it would be best if you remain outside of the Kims’ Business.”

“No problem, Mr. Kim,” you smile, much similar to how his fake receptionist did downstairs. You stand up as though you’re about to leave and bow to him in thanks to make up for how little he said thank you to you. “Have a good day.”

Kai stands up too, his hand making a reach for your wrist before you can turn away from him and make your leave for the rest of the decade. “You never told me where you saw them talking together.”

“And you didn’t want me to remain inside the  _Kims’ Business_ ,” you remind Kai.

He doesn’t answer you for a mere second, glaring at you like he was plotting your death in his head as you spoke. It wasn’t far from likely. Jongdae and Minseok would just need to find someone else to help them carry out this plan and execute it perfectly. You were pretty sure they’d have to do that even if you weren’t assassinated by Kai.

Seeing that he’s not going to reply any time soon, you pull your hand away from his and begin to move back towards the door. He’s silent, Kai looks at you with narrowed eyes but he doesn’t look just as angry as he could be. You’d seen worse looks from Minseok in the past. He doesn’t even say goodbye to you as you walk out of the door and exit the building with blood rushing to your head from the previous meeting.

Kim Kai was rude and heartless. His personality didn’t match anything about him and it made you feel sick inside that people actually looked up to him as this man of perfect morals and standards.

Even the air on the outside of his building felt contaminated by that fake aurora around him. You’d be rolling your eyes for the next ten years over him, but the main thing on your mind was calling Jongdae like he told you to and telling him the outcome of your meeting with Jongin. He could be the one to decide what you were actually doing after this, since he was at the centre of all this with Minseok.

But, you can’t make the call. There’s an obnoxious ring from an unknown number which stands in your path and leaves you with a frown once more. Though you debate answering, you decide that it’s best to check who it is just in case it is Jongdae or Minseok ringing on one of those unknown numbers they always used.

It’s not – you find that out quite quickly.

“Hello?”

“I think we should finish discussing things over dinner,” Jongin’s voice sounds through the phone. You’d have questioned if it was him but you could just sense the fact it was him with that overly confident tone. “Are you free tonight?”

You roll your eyes and groan. How he’d got your number, you didn’t care. You just wanted to go home and get in a hot bath until things felt better at least. “No, I’m not free.”

“Thursday?” Jongin asks.

“Nope,” you tell him again. Something was telling you that this would be harder than you first thought. “I’m not free Friday or Saturday either. Any day that you’re free, I’m not. We’ve finished discussing things already.”

❤❤❤❤

The apartment that you lived in was by no means ‘big’.

Jongin assumed it was though – the levels of different flowers that he’d had delivered to your door were starting to add up. You could barely breathe because it smelt so pretty and so Jongin-like in your apartment and gosh you hated it. There was still no answer to how he got your name, number and address as of yet.

When you had told him you didn’t need to discuss anything with him you assumed he’d be onto the next person, but when you failed to answer more calls from that unknown number and started to just put your phone on sleep mode to automatically decline all his calls, things changed.

Jongdae had been quick to mention that it would have irritated Jongin to know he couldn’t win you over, so now he felt to need to  _make you his_  and do everything he can for you – further proving the point that realistically you meant nothing to Jongin and all these flowers were for him. If you just said yes to him then it would heal his bruised ego from someone rejecting him for the first time.

It wasn’t even rejection, Minseok had sided with you on that one. You’d told him that you didn’t want to speak with him about the said issue with Chen anymore and that  _should_  have been the end of it. But now he did have your name, number and address so everything you did, you had to be careful about.

“I’m not even worried, Dae,” you say gently, shaking your head. You’re trying to find a letter that you had left on the side but all the bouquets were covering everything. “He’s not going to kill me. If he needed me dead then he’d send you after me and you could just help me change my name and say you killed me. Like, I did think this through when you first mentioned it to me.”

Of course Jongdae and Minseok were very happy to see that their brother was very distracted by you, and Junmyeon had his own wedding problems to deal with. So, effectively, they could do what they liked from here. “He mentioned you today, actually.”

“Do you think I should paint my nails blue or pink?” you ask, completely ignoring Jongdae’s statement.

Really, you couldn’t care less. You were sure that Jongin and many other people expected you to be on your knees  _begging_  for Jongin to love you, and that made it even harder to like him. If his personality matched his face then you’d think about it, but dealing with his oversized ego was hard enough on its own.

“Pink,” Jongdae tells you. He waits for a moment and sees that you’re not concerned by what he’s said about Jongin, so makes an attempt to further his point. “Do you not even want to know what Jongin said about you?”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me anyway, so sure. What delightful things could he say about me, the girl he’s sure is one of your one night stands and is seeking revenge on you?”

Jongdae chuckles a little, just like he did when you first told him about what connection Jongin had made between the two of you. You couldn’t, in a million years, imagine being in that position with Jongdae. “He said he thinks you’re very beautiful and that if he has the chance, he’ll make you fall in love with him.”

“That’s so… typical of Kim Kai,” you say solemnly. “No offence Jongdae, but I kind of blame this all on you. You’re the reason I hate him, all because I’ve never met him before you telling me to meet him because you’re snaking on him. Congrats, I guess. We could have been a great pair but not anymore.”

Jongdae sighs rather loudly and you honestly expected it from him. The way he acts complies very much with how he speaks. “Hate is such a strong word. Why don’t you at least  _try_  to give him a chance with you? He’s a nice guy, I promise.”

“Nice guy who was rude to me and now won’t leave me alone because I turned him down.”

“Nice guy who  _you_  need to distract until I’ve almost killed Oh Sehun!” Jongdae exclaims. He’s right, as annoying as it is to you. “I feel kinda bad saying that, it’s his birthday tomorrow. But hey, lets think on the bright side. It must feel nice to have Kai chasing you around and sending you flowers all the time. It’s a lot of male attention and he’s like… a  _hell_  of a man. You must be happy.”

“He’s just a burden to me,” you tell Jongdae, rolling your eyes.

You could think of it like Jongdae said but then you’d start to enjoy the flowers stacked everywhere. They were just as obnoxious as he was and that made you want to spit blood. Can’t he just let go like everyone else? Why was he so persistent in making one person fall in love with him because they turned him down. If Jongdae didn’t have the answers then no one else would.

“Well even if he is a burden, you’ve got to keep him occupied. Maybe it’s best that he is chasing you, then he’ll have his mind elsewhere for the time being.”

You hum in agreement. “What do you suggest I do if he asks me out again?”

“Personally, I would say no,” Jongdae says. Contrary to belief he is just as smart as Minseok. “If you keep him on a leash then he can’t run away from you. For example, if you say no, he’ll keep coming back until you say less. Staying distant is the best way to deal with him. I’ve concluded this from all his failed relationships with girls who are overly attached to him and don’t want to let him go.”

“And he has to need you more than you need him!” Minseok attaches to the end. His voice startles you a little – when did he get into the room? He had a habit of staying quiet in the middle of conversations.

You attempt to give an answer to the pair of them (as you just discovered) but some more  _obnoxious_ knocking on your door distracts you. Probably more roses, you knew you’d tell the delivery guy to keep them and give them to someone they liked instead.

“I’ll talk to the two of you later anyway,” you say as you stand to walk to the door. There’s a thought at the back of your mind that you shouldn’t open it but you ignore your mind nonetheless.

Both Jongdae and Minseok say their goodbyes and leave you disconnected on the other end of the line until you lock your phone and place it back in your pocket, hands pulling at the door’s lock and opening the door with an emotionless look your face.

It is most definitely the perfect look to open the door too, and although your mouth is open to tell the delivery guy you don’t want what he’s got, it’s not a delivery guy behind the door like you suspected.

“So, this is your address?” Kai asks. He has a smirk on his lips that fits with his tan coat with a black jumper and checkered shirt underneath. He looks rich and sleezy. That’s all you can say. “I have to admit, I began to question whether or not anything I was sending here made it to you. But, as I see know, it did. Nice to see you again.”

Noticing his slight peeking into your apartment, you pull the door shut ever so slightly and stand on the outside with him so he couldn’t creep in on your life anymore. “Can I ask why you’re here?”

“Are you not happy to see me?” Jongin asks.

“Not particularly.”

“Well I did try calling and you won’t answer your phone, so that’s why I’m here in person,” Jongin tells you. His eyes are almost wide with frustration but his comment makes you want to slam the door in his face – why was he making this your fault suddenly? More mind games. “May I come in to talk with you?”

You hold a hand out to Jongin’s chest and prevent him from walking inside. “I would prefer if you didn’t.”

“Scared what I might do?” Kai questions, eyebrow raised and lips pulled into that smirk once again.

“I actually just don’t need you to walk inside and begin to judge me once more,” you tell him, far too honestly for your own liking. “Is there something you needed?”

Jongin nods shyly, probably the shiest you have actually seen him since you had met him last week. “I’ve forgotten exactly what I wanted to say because your beauty is the only thing on my mind right now.”

“I can say the same about the lamb I’ve got in my fridge, to be honest with you.”

Jongin stifles a laugh, mostly because he doesn’t really know what to say to your own comical genius. He’s probably not had many who return his compliment without a thank you. It makes you satisfied to see him so lost and helpless. “Right, well… I want to take you out. That’s what I came here for.”

“When?”

“Is that a yes?” Kai exclaims, eyebrows risen in expectation that you quite quickly come to crush.

You shake your head and just roll your eyes once again. You’d done a lot of that since meeting Kai. “It’s an I asked when so I can tell you whether I’m free or not.”

“In that case, whenever you like,” Jongin states. He’s too blunt. He’s too obvious with how he feels for you to believe it.

“And in that case…” Your slight mocking of his words leaves Jongin to glare at you but he says no more in the hopes that you are actually free. Can’t he see you’re messing with him? This was going to be quite funny if you both kept up the stance that you liked each other. “…I’m still busy every night. I have a date every night – tonight’s is with the lamb I mentioned in my fridge. See you later, Jongin!”

Unfortunately for you, you would  _actually_  have to see him later. It wasn’t just a figure of speech.

❤❤❤❤

Since you’d claimed to see Chen and Yixing together, you weren’t allowed to see Jongdae in person in case Kai had someone following the two of you and suspected something was going on. You imagined that Kai had someone following Chen at least, and there was a possibility that Jongin himself was the one following around. Whether it was him trying to spy on you at the store the other day was unconfirmed but you suspected the least.

The next time you do see Jongin for real is in his building again, right on the bottom floor where his building’s café is. You’re waiting there for Jongdae to awkwardly come and say hi (not very inconspicuous but he was sure Jongin wouldn’t check there for any foul play between the two of you) and discuss what was going to happen in the future, and whether or not he was going to be pursuing Sehun in a short or long amount of time.

You’re not exactly paying attention – Twitter seems way more interesting to you than the random conversations of business people who worked for Kai. Half way through reading something a fan had posted about Big Bang and how problematic G-Dragon appeared to be, an over exaggerated laugh catches your attention.

It’s so fake and forced that you know it’s  _got_  to be that receptionist, and dear god you are right. She’s sitting on a table on the opposite side of the room to you (she was unbelievably loud, it was terrifying) and her guest was none other than Kim Jongin, who was smiling and had a hand over her own and looked very comfortable with her sitting opposite to him.

 _The_ Kim Jongin that had asked you out twenty two times now. Twenty three if you counted the very first one on the phone but due to the lack of ‘ _we make such a great pair_ ’ or ‘ _I think that you’re absolutely beautiful, darling_ ’ you failed to count that as an actual attempt to take you on a date. It was a little bit fishy, you supposed, but this is Kai and you should have expected him to be like this with everyone.

After all, you were just a game to him.

But it does appear that they’re on a date. Though he’s wearing his white shirt and black suit trousers that look wonderful on his body that is well toned – his muscles can really be seen in that shirt and it leaves you questioning how long he spends in that gym and  _how_  he balances it with his work life – he manages to make himself look completely casual. Maybe it’s her red blouse that’s totally revealing, which itself matches the red lipstick she’s wearing and her smoky eye make up that was totally made to attract Kai.

It worked, you’d give her that.

“’Sup babe,” Jongdae says, pulling out the chair opposite to you. It takes your attention from Kai and apparently, it also takes Kai’s attention from his receptionist. You notice from the corner of your eye that the second Jongdae sits down, Kai is looking in your direction. Time to pay attention to Jongdae. “Sorry I was late. Minseok got a call from Junmyeon and I thought it was serious.”

You raise an eyebrow and pick up your drink, sipping from the straw. “Was it serious?”

“As serious as someone attempting to break into his house is,” Jongdae tells you.

“Holy shit, what?” You question. It’s not often that someone breaks past Suho’s security and you’re sure that now everyone knows he’s got a fiancée he’s tightened things up. That said, surely Kai should be worried too and not be on dates with random girls. You’re _not_ jealous. “Is everything okay?”

Jongdae nods timidly. “Should be. His fiancée was a little shaken up and they obviously were quick to find out who did it and the first person they picked up in the area at the time was Kim Taehyung so they’re blaming it on DTA for now.”

“That’s shit,” you mumble, keeping it under your breath so you can look down at the table.

You don’t exactly want to brush off Junmyeon’s situation because it is really bad for him, but Kai’s stare is far too intense for you to just ignore it. You peek up through your lashes at him and he is looking back at you, eyes slipping between you, Jongdae and his receptionist with a fake smile on his lips whenever he was looking at you.

Judging by the glare he held,  _he_ was the jealous one.

“It’s not that shit. Personally, we could have seen it coming. He’s the most vulnerable with his thoughts in something else… Maybe Jongin is next?”

You look up to Jongdae at the mention of Jongin’s name, slightly annoyed that you missed an opportunity to pull a face at Kai when he met your eyes and also because you looked completely out of it whilst looking in his general direction. “Sorry?”

“Now Jongin is preoccupied by you, anyone could get something from him. Maybe I am playing with the enemy..? Ah, who cares, no one knows who you are outside of us anyway. You’re safe and so is he,” Jongdae says. He’s a little off with his words so you’re unsure of if he’s talking to you or to himself like he sometimes does. “It doesn’t matter anyway. If someone tries to get to you or Jongin, Minseok and I are on the case. Speaking of though, have you been close with him lately?”

You shake your head and take a sip again if your drink. If you can stay composed maybe Jongin will believe you’re on a date with someone else and leave you alone perhaps. “He hasn’t asked me out for five days. New record. I think he’s moved on.”

“ _Hm._ NowI’munsure of what we should do. Is he looking over at us right now?”

“How’d you know he was there?”

“I’m Kim Jongdae, I know everything.” Jongdae’s wearing one of those black face masks but you can see the grin he’s giving you right now even with that on. “If he has been looking over here then we’re fine. If he hasn’t, then we’re not. Now I’m going to kiss your cheek and leave, text me later if he comes and sits with you like expected. If he asks you out this time say yes, but say it very wearily. Make sure he knows that you know he’s seeing other girls. Oh, and don’t lie to me, Minseok is sitting over there and will be watching everything. Don’t use your email either, Kai is tracking that and he can find out anything about you from it.”

You’re giving no time to protest against his orders (that are very Kai like, for the record) because he’s leaning forward and kissing your cheek so he can head off to whatever work he needed to do with Junmyeon. It was probably more important than you anyway. But where the hell was Minseok? You hadn’t noticed him before.

They were the best at their jobs after all.

Diverting your attention back to your own job, you look up and try to make it seem as though you’re not really paying attention to much else. What would someone do after probably  _the_ shortest date in the world? Book a taxi to go home perhaps. You’ll make it seem like you’re doing that whilst glancing up to the sky as though you’re thinking so you can check to see if Jongin is paying attention.

He is, by all means. He’s still sitting at the table with his receptionist but judging by the look on his face he’s trying to shoo her away and she’s not having it. Really, you feel a little sorry for her having to put up with him this whole time but maybe after he screws her over she’ll find a decent guy who doesn’t just love himself. You’ll do the same after, too, since Kai is holding her hand whilst nodding at something she’s ranting on about (their next date possibly) and trying his best to get her away.

Now you wait; not very long by all means. You only manage to get onto your app and begin to type in your address before the chair opposite to you is pulled out again. Shame that you missed out on what they were saying before she left but you’d put up with it so you could see Jongin’s face when you  _finally_ agreed to his date idea.

“Hey,” he starts, looking you straight in the eye and  _not_  smirking. He does nothing – his face is pretty bland and though you’re sure he’s worked out you find his smile as fake as he is, there’s something about the way he is acting so solemn which makes you anticipate his next sentence. “Sorry I haven’t seen or called you in a while. There’s a fiasco with the shares I’m offering to people and it needed to be sorted.”

You hum along with his words. “That lady you were with was a shareholder of yours? She’s done well for herself. I’m happy for her.”

“Oh, no, she’s just my receptionist,” Kai tells you. There’s a sting in his voice which almost makes you laugh. He’s so rude, it’s almost horrifying. She’s  _just_  his receptionist.

“I didn’t know you were so close with your employees,” you say, shrugging your shoulders. “If I’d have known you were that close to them I would have been applying for a job with you sooner. My boss at the moment just tells me to piss off whenever I talk to them but she gets her hands held and everything. Say, isn’t that sexual harassment?”

Jongin laughs off your comment, not quite grasping your bitter tone that followed him leaving one date for you. “You can work for me if you like.”

“What department?”

“Wherever you want to work,” Kai tells you. He looks down at his watch, then sits up straighter with a smile on his lips. “How about as my personal assistant?”

Generic job much. You worked under him, technically. It was more like you worked for Jongdae and Minseok part time whilst holding down a job at a local insurance firm (because they needed someone to spy on the owner and you were perfect for the job), so you weren’t going to leave being a broker for a job as PA. “I think I’m over qualified.”

“Well what do you do at the moment?” Jongin questions. It’s like an interview for the job right now.

“I’m an insurance broker,” you tell him. Whilst debating whether you should mention what company you work for, you notice the change in Jongin’s features. You’re not as stupid as he must have though. “Did you not question why I could afford my apartment, Kai? I thought you would have realised a while ago that I was more than just an assistant or receptionist. I feel undermined.”

You’ve silenced Kai again and honestly you want to pat yourself on the back for it. Seeing him without anything to say was a godsend but like all good business people he made up something to say to you in the end. “I can find you a job you’re qualified for. Leave it to me, there’ll be a competitive position for you that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.”

“Why did you need to speak to me, anyway?”

“Oh, uhm…” Jongin pauses himself so he doesn’t ramble too much, probably still a little confused at how you brushed over his offer so quickly. He takes a glance around the room and then goes back to you, giving a genuine smile that somehow captures you for a moment. “This is the last time I’ll ask you, and if you say no I’ll go. But, will you please let me take you out? It doesn’t have to be for long and if it interferes with you work we can reschedule but I do want to get to know you. You're… different. I like it.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” Jongin repeats. His lips are slightly gapped and he looks a little distressed but it’s cute, really. You like this side of him. “You’ll go out with me?”

You nod as you laugh a little, finding his questioning to be very childlike. “I will go out with you, yes, Kai.”

❤❤❤❤

Three weeks after dating Jongin, he decides to bring you to his boat for a date. It’s a yacht, but you didn’t want to call it that in front of him because he had specifically said  _boat_  and now you had to call it boat so you felt like a decent person who actually paid attention to what he said. That was a bit harsh, but you did actually quite often give your phone to Jongdae or Minseok because  _they_  were so much better at being in a relationship with Jongin than you were.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t an interesting person. He had a lot to say and he asked a lot of questions, he just would not leave you alone. If you didn’t message him back in five minutes there would be a string of messages asking if you were okay and questioning whether or not someone had hurt you. Then you’d have to make up some excuse that was better than  _I started to pee but was on Facebook at the same time and got lost in the videos I was watching and forgot to text you back._ Telling him you were doing some work usually kept him quiet.

By now, you were sure he’d be a great boyfriend to someone who wasn’t you. Whilst you were only dating and neither of you had made a move, there was an air of the true Kim Jongin hidden under his persona of Kai that you liked.  _A bit._ It wasn’t an unearthly attachment and though he was a dedicated and true lover, something didn’t sit right and you weren’t just going to ignore it.

Surprisingly he hadn’t even tried to kiss you. No hand holding, no touching, no  _nothing._ It was almost as if he was just going to suddenly call out the cameras and yell at you about some prank he’d been pulling. It scared you a little because there was a chance he’d keep up this act for good and Jongdae would make you marry him, especially with the way things are going.

“I hope that you like lamb,” Jongin says as he sits down opposite to where you are. He’d done the whole gentleman act; pulling out your chair for you to sit down and everything.

“Like?” You question. “I love it. Don’t you remember when I told you I had a date with lamb? I wasn’t joking. I love it more than you know.”

You’d been more like yourself too, not that you weren’t before. Instead of trying to be pretentious towards him you were straight and began to tell him things about you which you didn’t think you would actually do. It was working and for that you were happy – Kai was falling into Jongdae and Minseok’s plans very well.

He laughs at your words and calls over one of his servers that are waiting away from dimly lit area, asking for a bottle of wine which you know is pretty expensive. “Dinner won’t be long. I thought we could talk a little first. I have a lot to ask you, actually.”

“Like what?”

 _What more could he possibly ask?_ He’dpulled out every question in the how to date guide already. “Why’d you’d change your mind about me so suddenly?”

“If you’re thinking it’s because you told me it was the last time you’d ask then you’re wrong. If I didn’t like you then I wouldn’t have pitied you and said yes anyway,” you admit. Holy shit, did you just infer the you liked him? You had to change the subject a little. “I guess that you looked more genuine. Like you didn’t just want to take me out because I said no to you when you first asked.”

Jongin nods timidly. He seems satisfied with your answer but it’s clear he wants to know more. You’d honestly feel the same way if someone declined your offer for a date twenty three times and then was like  _yeah why not._ “So not because you liked me?”

“I didn’t exactly know you well enough to say if I liked you,” you admit.

“I guess. We didn’t really talk much, did we,” Jongin says to himself mostly. He looks up to you and bites down on his lip. “But did you think I was cute?”

You raise an eyebrow at his question. “Tell me one person who doesn’t find any appeal in your looks, Kai.”

“Well, I will admit that I didn’t think you found any appeal at first,” Kai tells you. There’s a lack of the spark in his eyes and he almost seems regretful for the past and how he’s acted – at least that’s what you can assume.

You almost feel bad for him. In some way, you wouldn’t want to deal with everyone trying to date you just because of how you looked. As shallow as it was, that was what Kai’s life must have been about and you were sure it sucked for him. In some way you really did hope the best for him in the future; he wasn’t as self obsessed as you first believed.

“And I suppose that’s why I found some kind of charm with you. When you were in my office you didn’t bend over backwards to tell me how amazing I was and when you turned me down it felt like… You were different to the people around me all the time. You didn’t care that you’d rejected Kim Kai, to you it was like rejecting any guy. I like not being thought of as Kai.”

“So… you want to be thought of as someone with no high status instead?” You ask.

Jongin nods. It’s solemn and he’s opening up to you and you  _really_ don’t know what to do know he’s opening up to you. If he did that then it would mean he’d start becoming close with you and at the end of all this you’d have to tell him you were just with him for Jongdae and Minseok’s sake because you worked for  _them_ , and that would possibly hurt him.

“If it makes you feel any better, then…” Jongin looks up to you for your advice but you can’t give him any. You were never good in situations like this. That’s why Minseok and Jongdae were texting him. “…I actually don’t know what to say to make you feel any better. Just that if you start to be yourself around people then they’ll respect it, even if it’s completely different to what you’re usually like in person. You’ll be surprised at the amount of people who actually like you for you.”

“That’s pretty good advice if you ask me,” Jongin tells you. He smiles widely again and it’s less sorrowful so you can wipe the sweat from your brow.

It’s silent for a few moments as Jongin looks off into the waters that are gentle around the boat. You’re somewhere off the coast right now and it’s beautiful, but also a prime location for him to kill you if he still suspected your character, so you were weary. But, you will admit, it’s pretty nice sitting in the middle of the ocean with absolutely nothing to think about.

You can even fully process Jongin for once. He’s got this pink jumper on that probably wouldn’t look as good on anyone else, along with white jeans and rings you haven’t seen him wear before. He looks nice. You’re reminded again of why everyone was superficially attracted to him and why he thought people didn’t fully appreciate  _him._ Jongin had brought that up on your last date when you said you liked his coat.

Apparently you liking his coat was your own way of finding his outside attractive, and though you were a little confused as to what he was getting at, you started to understand when he explained himself. People don’t acknowledge that he’s a businessman and he knows what he’s doing in terms of running his own company. They think he’s some rich boy who just inherited and paid someone else to keep everything running.

That alone made you feel even more sorry for him. The feeling you got when you actually wanted to pat him on the back and tell him  _sorry_  was most definitely the worst part of all of it. You shouldn’t feel sorry for him but it’s all you could feel.

“I think that I should start now, actually,” Jongin says, stirring the silence between you. He catches your eyes and his checks turn a slight pinkish colour, something which leaves you to ponder what actually goes on in his mind. “I’m going to tell you about the real me. Why not?”

You nod despite the screaming in your head telling you to bring up to Jongin that the server still isn’t back with the wine from earlier. “Go ahead. I’m all ears.”

“My name is Kim Jongin and I’m twenty three years old. My birthday is January fourteenth and I’m from Seoul. I like dancing, I occasionally like to sing and sometimes I play video games when no one else is around. People say that I’m bossy and that I have a cold heart but really I’m noisy and I like to scream at my TV when I die in said video games. I also watch anime and this is due to the fact that I don’t really have friends my age, all of them are older and have more important business things to do.”

 “I like video games too, I guess,” you mumble. It’s quiet enough to be passed off as something incoherent but Jongin picks up on it immediately.

“You do?”

You nod with a smile. “Sure. My friends from high school used to play some with me and told me to watch anime too.”

“Maybe you could watch some with me?” Jongin suggests. He’s blushing again and it only intensifies as he sees you nod, so he turns his head down towards the table and holds his hands to his cheeks which he notices are burning. “Sorry, I should have worn some kind of foundation. I didn’t realise I could…”

“Blush?”

“That’s it,” Jongin informs you with a shy smile.

He looks up but keeps his hands on his cheeks and laughs again from the awkward atmosphere surrounding him. You do try to make it less awkward but you don’t exactly succeed. “Did you not know you could blush?”

“Well I’ve never done it before so…not really. I’ve never had a reason to,” Jongin tells you. He looks down at the table and sighs. “My parents didn’t really pay attention to me as a kid because they were working a lot so I ended up becoming more independent than a usual kid. The only people I saw were my school teachers and friends, and the guy who drove me to school. By then I didn’t really know what a compliment was so… I just nodded when people were saying to me  _Jongin_   _you’re so cute_  and  _you make my heart beat so fast._ Yeah I… I guess I’ve never blushed before. Sorry, you didn’t need to hear all that.”

You didn’t, but oddly you didn’t mind. In fact you really wished that you’d have known him as a kid so you could have befriended him and taught him about proper interaction skills. He’s parents seemed like assholes from what you were hearing and it made you question whether Jongin’s lack of commitment in relationships came from their own relationship.

“It’s okay, tell me anything you want. I’ll listen.”

Jongin nods. He’s careful with his words usually but now he’s being reckless. “And if I tell you that I wanted to kiss you?”

“That’s a good question, actually.”

You should do it for Jongdae and Minseok, but you also don’t want the only reason you’re kissing Jongin to he down to the fact you’re  _undercover_. That would be such a waste of a first kiss in a relationship.

Jongin nods whilst biting down on his lip again like he was nervous. “You don’t have to say yes. I was just being honest.”

“You can do it if you like,” you tell him, “honestly, you can.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Although he’s sitting across from you, he moves himself round so he’s crouching down beside your chair and he’s looking up at you with the look in his eyes or someone who is sick. Lovesick perhaps, as bad as it was to say. A part of you wishes that you just said no but as he’s looking up to you, his hands on your cheeks and feeling the burn of your own skin, you’re so glad you  _did_  say yes.

Maybe it’s the fact the light looked great around you. Maybe it’s the way he brushed his thumbs across your cheeks and bit down on his lip like a teenager would whilst having their first kiss. Maybe it’s the smell of his aftershave which is strong but not overbearing as it blows towards you from the wind around you.

Or just, maybe it’s the way he pressed his lips to your own in such a gentle manner that you can barely even feel it, and his soft skin brushing your own feels like the drag of rose petals with his nose just brushing yours as his eyes shut gently and you’re left to sink into him.

❤❤❤❤

“So you’re not his girlfriend yet?”

You very unfortunately have to shake your head at Minseok. He’s wearing one of those face masks to cover him in the café where he sits opposite you to disguise himself from Jongin if he was to come down here. At first you expected to have to give the news to Jongdae but he had decided that going off to tail some random guy was more important than his plans for Sehun, so you were left to sort that out with Minseok.

Not that you minded, really. Minseok was a little less pushing than Jongdae and understood that as hard as you tried, you’d never let go of the image if a judgemental and rude Kim Kai that you first met. So a relationship, though it was what they wanted, seemed very unlikely at this point. Jongin hadn’t even brought it up yet so you assumed that he could tell you had something against him.

But realistically, you weren’t  _completely_  against being Jongin’s girlfriend. “Nope. Just dating. I think it’s best if we don’t get into a relationship anyway. That way we can break things off easily when you’re done with Sehun.”

“But then he might lose interest,” Minseok says. He’s not one to complain but he’d think of every possibility that could occur and that saved Jongdae’s ass many a time. “Put it this way, if he’s still open then another girl might come along that’s just as nice as you and he’ll be with her instead. Or, he’ll get back to his work and notice what Jongdae and I are doing.”

“And has he ever had a girlfriend before?”

Minseok pauses to think, and groans when he sees what you’re trying to point out. “Just because he’s never had girlfriend  _type_ girlfriend doesn’t mean he won’t have one. He’s been with people in the past but he’s never spoken about them the way he does with you. Trust me, you’re different in his eyes.”

As nice as that may have been to think, this was still Kim Jongin. He could be an angel, but even before you accepted his date he was messing around with other people. You’d never fully believe you meant that much to him, not unless he was trying to hide his true feelings like he did with his true self.

“I can’t live with unproven theories, Min,” you say softly. It’s followed with a drink of your coffee that Minseok had kindly bought for you, a mouthful that you almost spit out immediately.

Kai is back.

He’s not alone, either.

“Are you okay?”

You nod but very inconspicuously gesture your head in the direction of where Kai is sitting with a girl who’s definitely not been seen before, but looks like she’s wearing office attire nonetheless. He’s got his hand on her waist that’s covered with a black pencil skirt, whilst his other hand is trailing across his shirt covered arm in a very seductive way.

Minseok, unsurprisingly, gives you an apologetic smile after seeing Kai’s interactions with her. “I guess we could have seen this coming.”

“I don’t care what he does,” you tell Minseok honestly. Though you expected it, the heavy feeling in your stomach became more prominent by seeing him so close with someone else right in front of you. “I guess that rules out being his girlfriend any time soon.”

There’s a hint of annoyance in Minseok’s eyes as he looks back at Kai with a need for vengeance. “First he assigns us an impossible task of catching Oh Sehun without any violence or drug use, now he’s ruining our plan to go against him. What if you actually had feelings for him? He really has a cold heart.”

You can recall when he told you that people called him cold hearted and you can see it now. They’d have to deal with him as a boss, too – you could only imagine he was like this with his employees. Their feelings didn’t matter, only his did. Although he had been conditioned to think that way, he’d already told you that too.

“You’ll still be able to do it,” you assure Minseok, “even if I’m not in the picture. Well technically I am still in the picture so let’s not get ahead of ourselves. He was texting me earlier to ask about whether I was free next week, so…”

“Well we need to plan ahead, just in case,” Minseok tells you.

You nod and dip your head down a little as you wait for Minseok to spill his plans to you about what was actually happening with Sehun, but you’re distracted by some high pitched giggling from the direction Kai was before.

It’s the well dressed girl who’s giggling and it’s Kai who’s got his lips on her chin, moving them towards her own lips with content. You’re not jealous, you’re just angry that he does this to so many people without them knowing. He really didn’t deserve everything he had and it made you sick. Even  _Jongdae_ wasn’t like this and he really did make you physically sick.

“We’re going to have Sehun’s drink spiked by one of our guys and then we’ll bring him back to Kai’s building.”

“That seems too predictable,” you mention, “he’ll have people watching his drinks to see if they’re spiked. You’ll never make it out of there with him.”

Minseok rolls his eyes at you but is very aware you’re slightly distracted so doesn’t go into much detail with his  _intricate_  plan. “Yeah, it’s still gonna work out. One of our guys will alert him that his drink is spiked and then he’ll be lead out into one of our band. We’ve thought through this.”

“And you’re sure it will work?” You ask.

“It will work as we’ll as we can make it work,” Minseok tells you. He pauses, looks back at Kai and sighs. “We’ll have Sehun in Kai’s hands at the end of the night no matter what. I can promise you the least.”

You hum, nodding slowly. You could be happy about that you supposed. “Good. I don’t want to spend more time with Kai than need be.”

❤❤❤❤

You’re horribly aware of Jongin’s actions with other people, and you’re still just dating him. No strings attached. The night that the plan for Sehun goes down you invite Jongin over and, effectively, seduce him so he won’t find out about Sehun

There’s a text from Jongdae that’s lingering on your mind the entire time you climb the flights of stairs in your path, but another from Jongin that stays prominent the entire time. No strings attached is still the case but you’re in the middle of a mission that you’ve received from Chen and you won’t now refuse it.

_My room number is 724 if you need me that badly._

It was such a conceited number for some reason. Perfect for someone like Jongin to reside on a night like tonight. He was meant to be in the hall downstairs with Sehun, Suho, Kyungsoo and many others, but Kai was sitting in his hotel room waiting just for you because Jongdae had told you that he needed to stay there.

_Problem with the plan. Keep Jongin in his room until past eleven and then let him down. Don’t ask til later, meet you at Isida’s at 00:25 and I’ll take you home._

It was just gone nine now, and that thought of having to keep Jongin in your sights in a room all alone made you nervous. There was one thing you could do and it was exactly the same thing you implied to Jongin that you  _would_ do.

You could tell yourself that sex with a man with no strings attached was against what you believed in. Dear god, it wasn’t something you’d put yourself up to but there was revenge daring to burn in your heart and exacting this revenge would help. After all, this whole occurrence with Jongin has left you with no current chance of ever getting the guy you worked with to like you.

His toned chest and broad shoulders (which were broader than Jongin’s for the record) were out of your reach now. Someone else could have Hoseok from work all to themselves and even though it would kill you inside, you’d live with it because  _you_  defeated Kim ‘Kai’ Jongin in the art of Love. Blandish her? No, he wouldn’t be able to coax you in anyway this time.

Of course if he had been a little less  _open_ , you may have considered the possibility of him having a chance with you. He was a nice guy when he was Jongin,  _not_  Kai. It was a shame that he spent so long trying to be Kai and ignoring Jongin because surely you weren’t the only one interested in what Jongin could be.

He complains about attracting all these overly obsessed girls but the reason he’s attracting them is because he acts like Kai.

Kim Jongin needed a slap in the face right for reality itself.

“Hi,” you greet with a slightly smile. You’ve made yourself out to be a little drunk by messing up your hair to a degree and ruffling up your clothes just a touch. That way, you’d be following along your confession of admitting the truth when you were drunk. “Sorry it took me so long. My taxi driver was a complete asshole. I haven’t seen you in so long, what happened to  _us_?”

Kai invites you in with a smirk on his lips which irritates you. Not only does he think you’re stupid but that you’re smitten for him as well. With the way things were going you’d rather be stupid. “I’ve just been busy. I missed you too.”

“Busy with the other girls?” You ask, rather innocently. Looking back at him from where you’re standing inside his room, you take note of the way he tenses up as he shuts the door. The smug look on your face is forced off before he looks back to you emotionlessly. “Or your shareholders again? I don’t care. I just really needed to see you because I’m sick of  _just_ thinking about you.”

“You think about me, huh?” Kai asks.

You hum.

“In what way?”

“In every way,” you tell him. The tone of voice you’re using makes your cringe and you’re finding it hard now to keep your delicate gaze met with his. “I think about what it would be like for you to touch me, taste me and…”

Kai cuts you off by kissing you. It’s exerted with more force than before but enjoyable nonetheless. His lips are so soft like you remember and his cologne is filling your senses with everything  _Kai_  related. You both hold it for a moment as his hands cup your cheeks to hold you close to him, establishing his own control over you.

He doesn’t keep it though. You pull away from him so that his lips are just ghosting over your own and his short, hot breaths that hit your skin every few seconds make you even more hot inside. Kai has a dangerous fire in his eyes which you don’t want him to subside. So, you continue.

“…and  _fuck_  me.”

The chuckle he emits chills your bones but heats your blood. One hand on your cheek falls down to your waist and brushes your skin ever so gently.

You’re more enthusiastic with this than you truly want to be.

“Is that so?” Kai asks. His voice is so sickly sweet that even if you didn’t realise he was an utter player by now, you’d have known something was wrong. He’s trained himself for this kind of moment and you’re no more than any other girls he has over at one point. The look in his eyes just furthers this. “Why don’t your experience it for real, baby?”

Kai doesn’t need more than a nod of your head to have you in his grasp. He takes you very firmly into the side-room that holds his bed, a lavish style room with dim lights that it seemed he’d already set. Not that you minded one bit.

He’s  _everywhere._ The second you’re sent down to the bed, Kai is hovering over you and his hands are touching every part of you. There’s fingers exploring the part of your waist that’s covered with clothes and his lips are over your skin and he’s very much tasting you. Too much you may think at first, but his kitten licks that pick up as he nears your chest almost make you forget what you’re here for.

“Do you know what you do to me?” Kai asks. His words suggest he’s said this a thousand times before, but his tone gives a different story. “I could think about you laying beneath me all day if I wanted. Tell me something, please?”

You pay attention to how he doesn’t bother to look up to you and instead focuses on those slight kisses to your chest which mean all too much. Still, you hum. “What is it Kai?”

“Do you crave me?”

He looks up this time and his eyes are dark; they capture your attention for the entire time he’s looking at you. It makes you miss the way he’s slipping your straps down and beginning to expose your body. The trail he leaves on your skin makes you feel fire though – you don’t know if it’s painful or enjoyable.

“Yes,” you tell him, only because it’s the answer he wants to hear. “I’m drunk off you, Kai. I need you.”

And he believes you as quickly as you could make him realise he needed you, too.

“You’re so beautiful,” Jongin says. He’s back to your body and he’s dragging down your clothes even further. You’d feel bare in his presence since he’s still fully clothed but you barely even notice it.

Kai is trained for this. His whole mind-set is made for making girls believe he’s in love with them and they are set to fall at his feet. He’s got you naked at his touch within a few moments and you’re wondering where the time as gone because the way he touches your waist and nips at your hips is unbearable.

“You said you wanted me to taste you?” Jongin asks.

He’s completely submersed in your lies too. You should feel bad but no part of you wants to forgive him for how he’s chosen to live his life. So he shall bear with it and fall like many have done for him. You did have to keep him busy until gone eleven.

Kai would have all of his attention on you.

❤❤❤❤

“Please wait!” Jongin calls, his voice just as desperate as you pictured it to be in your head.

You had very much succeeded in your plan to get him to crave you. Kim Jongin was very much in need of  _you_ and it made you feel even better walking away from him in the middle of the shopping mall with people watching around you, unsure of whether you’re a couple in the middle of an argument or he’s a stalker than you’re shrugging off.

The latter was very much the case, but Jongin made it out to be the case of an arguing boyfriend and girlfriend.

“Can we not talk?” Jongin asks. He’s about four steps behind you but makes no effort to try and touch you or pull you back to him. He’s respecting the fact you’re ignoring him and keeping a distance just in case he does do something wrong. “Please, I need to talk with you. This is important.”

His words that are filled with anxiety and pain force you to stop in your path, causing him to bump into the back of you and immediately apologise with a dip of his head. He never meets your eyes and that gives you more confidence in speaking with him. “What could you need to speak with me about, Kai?”

“Why are you calling me Kai now?” He asks.

It was, in effect, a low blow to his ego. He’d told you details of who he really was outside of Kai and then you purposefully ignored it because he didn’t stick to being Jongin. “It’s your name. What’s the problem?”

“We slept together.”

“And?”

“You’ve been ignoring my calls,” Jongin states. His lips are slightly pouted and he looks down at the ground to avoid your eyes again. “Is that it? We sleep together and you’re gone?”

You honestly had no real reason to carry on speaking with Jongin again. Sehun was taken by Jongdae and Minseok with no problems, and although you weren’t permitted to ask what was happening with Sehun you had a feeling that he was sitting in a basement waiting for Jongin to do something, except Jongin was here with you.

“I’m sure that I’m easily replaced,” you say, rather carelessly. It catches Jongin’s attention and he shakes his head as though you’re entirely wrong.

“You’re not,” Jongin tells you. He tries to touch your hand but you pull it back before he can reach you. “Please, I know I’ve not been very committed in the past but I  _do_ like you.”

You have to hold back a laugh at his words. Many must have been able to trust him at this point because you could see the strain in his voice at his own words. “And how many people have you said this to, Jongin? The night after I was with you, which girl was it with you? Your assistant, your receptionist, or someone new? Please let me know, I’m curious to who you’ve moved on to.”

“There was no one,” Jongin admits.

“Bullshit.”

You don’t wait for Jongin to reply and instead turn around to carry on in your own direction and head back to your car so you could get home and forget about all of this. Find someone new, too, away from the chaebol life so that you could just enjoy the rest of your life without worrying your boyfriend was cheating on you.

There’s a chance that he won’t follow you, and fortunately for a few seconds he doesn’t. The worry of Jongin being stalker like with you were starting to fade and you began to think about what you could possibly make for dinner tonight, but those thoughts faded when you felt hands on your arm, holding you rather tight.

Correction, Jongin’s hands – he was pulling you in the direction of the toilets that were just opposite to you and he didn’t let your slight protest of not moving your feet stop him.

“Hey, get off me!” you exclaim, trying to shake him off your arm. It’s no use because his grip is iron on you and efficiently makes it impossible for you to shake from his grip. “Kai, I’ll have you know you can be arrested for this.”

“Shut up a second,” Jongin says, ignoring you completely.

His tone of voice sends a shiver down your spine – he’s being  _very_  serious about this and you know from all your time with Jongdae and Minseok that speaking like this means one thing. There’s a problem, and you know that there’s a big one if Jongin’s spooked by it.

So you cooperate and let him lead you into the toilets that ultimately bring you both to an emergency exit, but it’s locked. You can tell by the way that Jongin runs his hands through his hair and sighs in frustration that he’s not happy whatsoever with this case and he’s  _worried_. He takes one look at you, then at the entrance to the ladies’ toilets, then at the floor.

Do you dare ask what’s wrong? You had been in situations where something similar had happened but not with someone of Jongin’s level being this agitated. There was really no ideas in your mind of what to do.

“Wait in a stall. Lock the door and don’t let anyone in,” Jongin tells you. His voice is meant to be calm but you’ve spent too much time around people  _trying_  to remain calm for it to fool you.

“What about you?” you ask.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters, what are you going to do?” you ask again, facial expression much more stern this time. Jongin refrains from answering and this makes you even more worried than before. Trouble with the fourth triad? That could always be the case. Of course there was always the Unnamed and DTA. “What’s the matter, Jongin?”

Jongin looks up to you as he shoves his hand into his coat pocket, pulling out what you can resemble as a gun. He holds it in his hands for a moment and then passes it to you. “Someone who is looking for me is in the building. Take this, only use it if you need it. I’ll be fine, keep yourself safe.”

“Who is it?” You continue to question. Of course Jongin isn’t happy with your question and chooses to ignore it, but when you grab his arm and stop him from walking away you practically force him into answering. “Kim Jongin. Do you not remember why I started talking to you in the first place? To save your ass from Chen possibly selling you out to another triad. Tell me who’s out there.”

“It’s Byun Baekhyun,” Jongin states.

You frown immediately. “I thought no one had seen him since his wife left him and Kim Namjoon was sent to kill him and Park Chanyeol?”

“He’s been around the whole time but keeping a low profile. There’s some trouble between the Unnamed and I. My priority right now is to keep you safe as they have seen us together now and you’ll become a possible target.”

The gun in Jongin’s hand is never passed to you, instead you pull him back with you into the female toilets and lock him in the stall that’s a few from the end with you, thanking the stars that no one else was inside to see you with him. They might have called security and reported you which would have been an even bigger issue altogether.

What it did mean, however, was that you were left with Jongin standing very close to you in a stall that wasn’t the most pleasant, but better than you could have imagined. Baekhyun wasn’t as smart as Park Chanyeol but he was trigger happy and any sign of Jongin would mean shots fired. It didn’t matter to him that you were in public.

So now you were opposite to Jongin. There was a pounding in your heart because you knew he was going to bring up the issue of you two again, but it wasn’t as bad as the look he was giving you each and every time he looked into your eyes. Hurt. That’s what he appeared to be, but even in the state he was in, you couldn’t bring yourself to appreciate the true emotions he felt.

Which really meant you just stood in silence, both staring at each other in vain. He wouldn’t get what he wanted and neither would you. It had to have been about twenty minutes before you dared to speak, and although you appreciated the small break from real life, the chance of being killed by Baekhyun wasn’t a great addition to the mood.

“Why don’t you have your men with you?” You ask timidly. There’s no sign of Baekhyun and you’re beginning to question whether he was even there.

“Because I had to leave my house quickly,” Jongin says, a frown on his face. “And, uh… they don’t really understand why I have to follow you. I figured I’d give them a day off whilst I tried to convince you I had feelings for you.”

“You’ll have a hard time convincing me the same thing.”

Jongin stifles a laugh at your statement. He knows just how serious you’re being but in his own selfish way he doesn’t just want to accept it. “It’s going to be impossible for me to convince you that I didn’t think I could fall in love before you too, isn’t it?”

“You’re not in love with me, Jongin.”

“Maybe I’m not. Maybe every time I’m with you my heart beats really quickly and I can’t help but smile. Maybe when you leave me I’m back to the same old Kai who doesn’t know how to commit. Maybe I don’t know what love is, but you’re most definitely the person that’s come closest to being someone I love.”

He’s blushing by the time he’s finished and you panic a little. He told you he didn’t know how to blush before he met you and you believed him on that, but you did  _not_  want to believe that Kim Jongin was falling in love with you. “Don’t tell me things you’re unsure of, Jongin. If you can doubt that you’re in love with me, then I assure you that you’re not in love with me.”

“Are you trying to convince me that I don’t know I’m in love with you… because you can’t tell me that you feel the same?”

You stay quiet begrudgingly.

“It’s okay, I can take the rejection. I mean it. It will be a first for a girl not to want me, but everything with you has been a first. When I met you that day I realised as soon as you walked out my office that you were going to help me out in some way and even if you can’t return my feelings, you’ve taught me to stop messing with people’s feelings.”

“You deserve someone who’ll love you Jongin,” you mumble, placing a hand on his chest. You can feel his heart beating under his jumper and it makes you feel bad for doubting him this whole time. “You and I aren’t too different you know. I’m glad that I taught you to stop being a complete asshole but I’ve done the same thing to you. And I guess… now I’m going to stop judging people before I really know them. I try to act like I know what’s going on in your head all the time but I really have no clue. Eh, I suck just as much as you do.”

Jongin laughs, genuinely now. It makes you happy that he can see a good side in all of this. “You don’t suck. You’re awesome.”

“You’re a biased source of information.”

“But I’m still quite credible,” Jongin tells you. “Put me as a reference on any job you applied to, I’ll get you the job. I promise you. Lots of people trust me as a source of information because of the reputation that Kai has.”

You hum to agree with him. “That’s very true. However, I do think that if people knew Kai confessed to a girl in the women’s toilets at the mall, they may begin to question you a little.”

“It will be even worse when they find out that my feelings were never returned,” Jongin says with a heavy heart. You never rejected him, either. You never said you didn’t like him and even though every bone in your body was anti-Kai, he was more than you gave him credit for still. Not everything he did was malicious. “Do you want a ride home? I’ll let you pick the music.”

“I have my own car outside, I can drive myself home.”

Jongin shakes his head, tutting at your words. “I know you took the bus here. I followed you all the way from the stop by your—ignore that. It sounds weird. I’m not a stalker, I promise. But I’ll drive you home, I don’t mind.”

Maybe Jongin would be great as a friend of yours after all.

❤❤❤❤

“Kim Jongdae! I will kill you with a pitch fork if you don’t take this—”

Said bag that is placed over your head is removed very promptly, but it’s not Kim Jongdae’s face in your vision. It’s Kim Jongin, and you fear for a second that you’ve blown every cover under the sun you’ve made for yourself. But Jongin sits there with a smile on his face brighter than the very sun you used as well.

“Happy one month friendship anniversary!” Jongin exclaims, throwing his hands up a little, “now, I know that you were at work and that everyone there thinks you’ve been kidnapped by the mafia. That Hoseok boy with the blond hair was very fond of you, does he like you?”

You frown deeply at Jongin, still a little fuzzy at all the events that occurred over the past few hours. “I don’t know, Jongin, why don’t we ask him? Even so I’ll never have a chance with him now he thinks I’m tied in with the mafia!”

You’d happily been chatting away with said boy at your desk, discussing a possible drop in the value of the euro (since he was very economy there), and then you’d been subject to a typical Jongdae level hustle. They’d – this being Jongdae and his men – stormed in and Jongdae held a gun to your head, all the while telling your coworkers to get down on the floor as they dragged you out of the office.

It was a very eventful morning; you could only wish it wouldn’t have happened. If it wasn’t for the can ride that Oh Sehun must have been subject to a month and a bit ago, and the tying to a chair with a black mask over your head, it would have been completely different. The Kim Brothers went all out on you today.

“Well honestly…you and Hoseok will never work out,” Jongin tells you. He leans forward a little, resting his elbows on his knees and narrowing his eyes at you to really evaluate your face. “He’s been talking to a girl on the floor below you and they’re really close. Sorry to burst your bubble but he’s not as a clean as you think. Didn’t that total fuck boy attitude give it away?”

You look down at the floor with a groan. “Maybe the fuck boy attitude is what I’m into.”

“It doesn’t matter. I, as your closest friend, will not let you date a boy who won’t treat you right. So… I did some research into him. Since you’re an affiliate of  _ours_  then interaction with him is not good. He’s part of The Clan. Undercover like you were for Jongdae.”

“Who is very sorry for this by the way!” Jongdae’s voice echoes from the back of the room. He must have given your secrets up to Jongin. And what was this about Jongin being your closest friend?

“You can fuck off Kim Jongdae,” you say, rather loudly for emphasis. Having a gun held to your head wasn’t something you really wanted even with Minseok’s training for the exact situation. “Right, he’s part of the The Clan. Whatever. Why didn’t you just call me and tell me this instead of  _kidnapping_ me?!”

Jongin looks down at the ground with a shy smile that you have to admit yourself is very cute. Very… Jongin of him. “I’m here to offer you a solution for losing the possibility of dating Hoseok.”

“And what is your solution?” You ask timidly.  

“Take this in whatever way you want but…” Jongin pauses mid-sentence so he can look up at you. His eyes are shining in the dim lights of what you assume is the torture room he has in the basement of his building, and you can’t help but laugh at his posture that doesn’t match his goofy emotion. “Hey—! What are you laughing at?”

He had been a good friend. Jongin would text you at random intervals and check you were eating, and although Jongdae assured you he still had a crush on you, there was no signs of you stopping talking to him.

Part of your plan was to get him to realise he doesn’t actually love you. If you kept talking and meeting him in the morning for coffee he’d realise you were little more than Minseok without coffee. You complained, you hated people and you really just wanted to listen to Cha Cha Cypher on repeat for the rest of eternity.

Jongdae then assured you it definitely wasn’t working.

“This is where you mocked Sehun’s ball size, isn’t it?”

“Is there anything that Jongdae doesn’t tell you about me?” Jongin exclaims, irritated with the way you laugh at his petty attempts to anger Oh Sehun. It only makes you laugh more, Jongdae is laughing behind you, and this makes Jongin crack a smile at the least. “Fine, yes it is. It’s also where he told me he’d suck my dick if I let him go, so he’s worse than I am.”

You scoff at his words and tug at your hand restraints, almost forgetting that they were there. “You kidnapped me to tell me a guy that might like me is part of a wannabe triad. You’re the worst person to exist on this planet. Just tell me why I’m here so I can return to work and apologise for everything.”

“Very well. I brought you here to tell you that I am in love with you.”

To the point, you’ll give him credit for that.

“Y-You’re what?” You stutter, eyes wide and lips gapped from his statement.

“You told me that if I doubted that I did love you then I definitely didn’t love you. But now I wake up every morning and ask myself the same question. Am I in love with you? The answer is always yes. When I’m brushing my teeth I start to think of what it would be like if I moved you in with me. When I’m making breakfast I imagine having you with me at all times during the day. When I sit at my desk I think about what you’re doing and I get jealous that maybe you’re paying attention to another guy so I text you and when you reply to me I get so happy you wouldn’t believe. When I get home I think about cuddling you on the couch. When I go to bed you’re the last thing I think about. Every time I think about you there’s a smile on my face and I can’t explain how much I  _know_  I’m in love with you. I know I told you that I could face rejection but now I know for sure that I love you, I had to give it another shot, just in case…”

“…in case I felt differently than before?”

Jongin nods shyly. There’s a blush covering his cheeks and it makes you feel butterflies that you would never admit to. “Of course if you haven’t that’s fine. I think it’s best I tell you because otherwise I’ll just be lying to you about how I feel. I want to be more than friends with you.”

There’s an air of silence between you. It’s almost as tense as when you and Jongdae found out about that non-Korean ‘K-Pop’ group that couldn’t sing for their lives and ultimately became the biggest disappointment to come from America since the start of 2017. You try to think of what you can say to assure him, but you’ve drawn a blank. Jongin’s wide eyes and pouty lips can’t help you think through what to say.

“I think that…” you cut yourself off half-way through to look down at the ground, but ultimately decide that meeting his eyes is the best way to deliver the news. “Remember when we were being honest with each other? Well, I’ll be honest too. I haven’t fallen in love with you. I like spending time with you and after everything that happened I didn’t think of you as more than a friend, but…”

“But?”

“But that can change,” you say softly. Is it a lie? You’re not entirely sure. You’d not like to say that it was because there was aspects of Kim Jongin you liked, and each day you liked them more.

Once you got past the stage of thinking he was the same Kai as before, you’d be perfectly okay with him. At least, you could tell yourself that to see the smile on his face grow in size and his eyes light up even more.

And seeing Jongin blandished by your words made it even better.


End file.
